Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped FP1 of F1 Saudi Arabian GP from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
It was relatively smooth FP1 of F1 Saudi Arabian GP at Jeddah from incidents point of view. The drivers too didn’t take undue risk while testing out the limits. The tyre strategy was mixed up with all three compounds in action throughout the field.
It was Mercedes 1-2 for most until the end when Red Bull got in between. It was Lewis Hamilton who topped FP1 of F1 Saudi Arabian GP after setting a 1m29.786s lap as Max Verstappen (1m29.842s) ended up 0.056s behind after a late lap.
It dropped Valtteri Bottas (1m30.009s) to third, who praised the track on the radio, much like Mercedes did to the FIA. The Dutchman had a small moment at Turn 1 when he was caught out by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who had his own moment in the corner.
Behind the Top 3, it was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m30.263s) as Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m30.318s) rounded out the Top 5 from the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz (1m30.564s) and Charles Leclerc (1m30.600s).
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m30.608s) was eighth from Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m30.842s) and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m30.886s) in the Top 10 where the Spaniard set his time on the hard compound.
Vettel, meanwhile, had a moment with Haas’ Nikita Mazepin during the session. It wasn’t a good run for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was only 11th ahead of Ocon with McLaren’s Lando Norris managing just 13th best time. The Frenchman set his best on the hard tyres.
The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was 14th from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, as Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was 16th from Williams’ George Russell, Haas’ Mick Schumacher, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Haas’ Mazepin.
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